Thanks for the comments...good to get a bit of discussion going
One of the pertinent issues that is coming up is how the different parts of holistic mission relate to each other. As I see it, there are broadly three arenas of Christian mission - creation-care, social action and evangelism. This reflects the reality that sin has affected not just individuals, but society as a whole and even creation.
So the question is, are these three areas equally important or does one (evangelism) trump the others? Chris Wright, in his book The Mission of God, argues that we should think of evangelism not as the primary aspect of mission, but as the ultimate aspect. It does not trump the other categories, but it is the ultimate goal toward which mission is intended. What do you reckon?
Even if we hold that evangelism is primary or central in mission, does this mean social and creational mission should be neglected? Does it have to be either/or? Could we involve ourselves in the world's great causes and still seek opportunities to share Christ with our workmates?
Food for thought...
8 comments:
Perhaps the secular world does not put as much weight in our gospel message because it does not always take into consideration the holistic approach.
An example of good evangelistic efforts could be the salvation army, with their strong focus on the wider community.
If they - the people out there - are made in the image of God then we should be passionate about whatever mars that image. Which means we must deeply wish to bring people into a personal relationship with God - through evangelism in the usual sense of proclamation of the gospel.
But equally we must care deeply about social involvement because injustice is always about people made in God's image being exploited, or oppressed, imprisoned, killed. And see how much God has to say about this - the way Jesus announced his ministry, or in the Old Testament: Micah, or all those warnings in Hosea, Proverbs, Jeremiah about weights and measures. Weights and measures! I used to wonder what all that was about till I realised that corrupt weights and measures are ways the rich/strong cheat the poor/weak. The modren equivalents don't take too much imagination.
So, integral mission says you cannot pursue the one without the other. One does not trump the other.
'Proclamation of the gospel has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. Our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world we betray the word of God which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the word of God we have nothing to bring to the world.'
That's a brilliant last paragraph Geoff...you put quotation marks around it - did you quote it from somewhere?
There is often a fear that emphasising social action and holistic mission devalues evangelism, but I don't think it has to be so. It's simply the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole person throughout the whole world.
Amen Skip, to the bit about The Salvation Army! Preach it! I am currently working as a social worker for The Salvation Army and am loving the opportunity to mix my faith with my passion for social justice and to help the hurting. To me, my 'mission field' is the hurting, disadvantaged people (especially the kids) of Auckland city.
In my work with the sallies, I see the needy and broken every day. People who need food, clothing, shelter - but most of all, people who need Jesus.
One of the issues I continually ponder in my work is where we can find the balance between sharing God's compassion through caring for people, with the notions of empowering people to be all they can be. To me there's a fine line between helping people, and building dependence. Robert Lupton (author of 'Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life') says that 'to do for others what they can do for themselves is to make recipients the objects of our pity and deprive them of human dignity'.
Helping people is a vital part of what it means to take a holistic approach to mission, however this must never be at the expense of helping people to help themselves and move on to better things, otherwise all we do is build dependence on us, the helpers.
As Francis of Assisis (Founder of the Franciscan order, 1181-1226)said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
One of the things I have noticed within the evangelical Christian community is the way we isolate ourselves from the world. We promote an 'Us vs. Them' mentality; Saved vs. Unsaved; ‘Us’ vs. the rest of God’s creation. And in Mission, when we promote evangelism as primary at the expense of the social action and creation-care, we endorse and exaggerate that thinking.
One of the leading causes of this thinking I believe is that we forget that God is the God of ALL people. If I could be so bold as to suggest even, that he has a relationship with ALL people and is involved in ALL peoples lives - not just those who call themselves Christian. He loves non- Christians just as much as Christians.
We often hear people comment that non-Christians do more for society that the Church and we are surprised. Why? After all, everyone has been created in God’s image and has His heart. It’s just that sin has distorted that image. It is sad to see however that sin has affected the heart of Christians more that non-Christians when it comes to social action and the caring of what is dear to God’s heart – all that He created.
Our focus to date has been on ‘personal’ evangelism and ‘personal’ relationships in our individualistic society so much that we have forgotten to look at the needs of society and how the Church can impact communities.
We should not be trying to make 'Them' into 'Us’. Rather we should focus on improving and/or restoring relationships between God all that He created, and amongst all that He created.
I've been amazed, during my volunteer experiences with refugees and elsewhere, at the number of good people I've met who are not "religious" but who ask where all the other Christians are.
It does make sense that if we are Jesus followers, we'll care about the things Jesus cared about. I see Him hanging with the marginal with much more ease than with the safe and settled.
Our social involvement speaks volumes, and it very likely creates opportunities for us to be heard with more credibility.
Some very thought-provoking comments here.
This issue of dependency is one we struggle with all the time in working with communities in the developing world. Charity tends to build dependency - thank you for that quote from Lupton. It's interesting to see similar issues in the Salvation Army's work. We try much more to focus on empowerment, people making decisions for themselves, and I think that fits the idea that god is already at work in these communities. But linking empowerment (and especially human rights) to mission has taken people down some difficult tracks.
I work in leprosy, and if you talk to leprosy-affected people about what they want in their lives, they seldom talk about hand-outs. They often talk about dignity. If I read carefully the healing miracles of Jesus, I see this dignifying, empowering approach. He does not zap people. There is deeper change going on.
Reuben: the quote was from Micah Network, a network of Christian organisations working in community development.
Preach the gospel and if neccessary use words. Don't just preach something do something, but don't just do something preach the truth too. We can't have one without the other. Whether its primary or ultimate, really who cares as long as we have both in missions?
Geof Warne - you're on the mark there. I don't see Jesus zapping people but I do see him restoring the dignity of being a human being. Not everyone needs or wants a handout.
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